HIGH SCHOOL HOOPS FANS: Scroll down one post for our previews and picks for tonight’s county tournament finals.

HOOPS HAVEN’S POWER RANKINGS

1. Pittsburgh: Coaches’ Poll ranking (No. 6) is a travesty.

2. Notre Dame: Toughest home court since King Henry VIII.

3. Louisville: Getting healthy, legs are fresh—look out.

4. St. John’s: Sputnik was less surprising.

5. Syracuse: Harder to read than the Wilpons’ bank statements.

6. Georgetown: Can’t they call up a point guard from Oak Hill?

7. Connecticut: Calhoun suspended for 3 shuffleboard games this summer.

8. Villanova: Thought they wouldn’t miss Scottie Reynolds?

9. Cincinnati: Beat a ranked team on the road for the first time in 7 years.

10. West Virginia: Staggering to the finish line.

11. Marquette: RPI improved to 51 after Thursday’s win at UConn.

11. Marquette: RPI improved to 51 after Thursday’s win at UConn.

12. Seton Hall: Filled the AD position before the Mayan calendar ended.

13. Rutgers: Need a permit for Mike Rice’s postgame fireworks.

14. Providence: Marshon Brooks is driving an empty bus.

15. South Florida: More students in Calculus class than the Sun Dome.

16. DePaul: Trying to line up a game with Watson the Jeopardy computer.

WHO’S HOT

Mike Repole: The Vitamin Water founder and influential St. John’s alum has backed a winning horse in Steve Lavin. A little birdie told us the Johnnies are expecting to clear $3 million in ticket sales this season.

Mick Cronin: He looks like Joe Jackson[1] but he’s coaching like Phil Jackson. Cronin’s Bearcats (RPI: 33) are “Steppin’ Out” off the NCAA Tournament bubble. One question, though: Is she really going out with him?

Marshon Brooks: Here’s the Providence star’s line from Wednesday’s 52-point eruption vs. Notre Dame: 20-of-28 shooting, including 6-of-10 from 3-point range, plus five boards, four assists and one turnover in 40 minutes.

WHO’S NOT

Chris Wright: The Georgetown point guard broke his hand Wednesday yet will supposedly be back for the NCAA Tournament. Where is he getting treated, Lourdes?

Idiots in Indianapolis: What does Jim Calhoun have to do to get suspended this season, launch nukes? The UConn coach got busted in an ugly recruiting dustup yet his punishment is deferred to next year.

Residents of Radnor, Pa.: They want no part of an expanded, BCS football stadium but they might be on the losing end because word is that Villanova’s biggest power brokers are pushing hard for an upgrade.

GAMES OF THE WEEK

St. John’s at Villanova, Saturday at 2: Red-hot visits ice-cold. If the Johnnies win at Wells Fargo, they’re looking at a top-four seed in the Dance and Nova could be staring at an 8-9 game. Quality point guard duel between Corey Fisher and Dwight Hardy.

Pittsburgh at Louisville, Sunday at 2: All you need to see is half of the floor. The action when Pitt’s guard dogs and paint enforcers defend Louisville’s shooters and slashers promises to be college basketball at its finest.

Cincinnati at Marquette, Wednesday at 8: If Marquette takes care of business at home against Providence Sunday, this is a resume-boosting opportunity for its 10th league win. The Bearcats need to keep winning, too, just in case.

BY THE NUMBERS

500: Games played at Carnesecca Arena/Alumni Hall.

34: Career scoring average for Austin Carr, who will be inducted into Notre Dame’s Ring of Honor Saturday night when Seton Hall comes to town.

25: Straight Big East losses for DePaul before last week’s shocker at Providence.

NOTABLE QUOTES: Here are the quotes from the conference call, including Mike Rice’s transcript and an interesting thread on the Big East Player of the Year race.

MIKE RICE on the conference call:

“Up until the Louisville game I loved the compete and the fight of where this team was. Certainly Louisville is probably playing the basketball in the league right now along with St. John’s. They’re healthy and deep. We were not in the right frame of mind apparently. We came out with our first clunker of the Big East season. We’ve very excited to go into Senior Day here. They’re very hard-working seniors and hopefully we send them out with a W.”

On the seniors’ mindset and what you want to see from them: “I met with them for two minutes yesterday. We have a film session today and they’re going to coach and prepare the team for Senior Day this weekend . . . (They need) a sense of urgency and fight that this thing is not over, we can still as crazy as it sounds accomplish some of the goals we had. That’s fight, that’s all it is.”

On the importance of finishing the season strong: “Everything you’ve done, all the work you put in, I said (to the players), unfortunately you’re proving everybody right with our record right now. People won’t remember how hard you fought and all the one-possession games you had against ranked teams. They just look at your record. Eventually in this league you have to put Ws on the board and stop getting close. So it’s vital that we get some of these down at the end here. Our seniors, I like their perseverance through everything that’s happened in their careers here and hopefully they show a little bit more.”

On playing West Virginia: “It’s Bob Huggins and you know you’re going to be in a very physical confrontation each and every possession.”

On the Big East Tournament: “There will be some head scratchers. There will be some team from the bottom here that will surprise some people. With the parity in this league anything can happen. That’s what’s so exciting for the college basketball fan out there.”

Big East Player of the Year? The coaches analyze:

Rick Pitino: “Marshon Brooks probably is having the best year. He’s an outstanding player, but his team is not winning. If it’s value to a team certainly that brings into play Hardy and Kemba, and a few other guys like Freeman. I’d have to give it some thought because Brooks certainly is the outstanding player. He’s just a tremendous basketball player, someone who I think will be a very good pro.”

Jim Boeheim: “Usually coaches generally lean to a player from a winning team. I don’t think it has to be. As far as I can see it’s pretty wide open. There are four or five guys who have played well—certainly Hansbrough and Walker and Hardy, Brooks, Ricky Jackson has been good all year. There are four or five guys, Freeman. It’ll be a very close call.”

Stan Heath: It’s definitely a wide-open race. The early-on favorite was Kemba Walker for sure and lately it’s really tightened up. If you had asked me two weeks ago I would have said Kemba Walker. Then I started looking at Ben Hansbrough and Steve (Lavin) makes a valid point about Dwight Hardy. I’m going to wait and see how these last two weeks straighten out. I tend to lean toward a guy who can put his team in position to win the conference championship . . . Rick (Jackson) is one of those guys that you know during the course of the game he’s effective and getting things done. At the end of the game when you look at the stat sheet you’re like wow, he really handed it to us.”

Mike Brey: “I’ve always felt (it should come from a) winning team. A guy I talk about who’s put his team in position to win a regular-season championship is Wannamaker. What that guy does for his team and the level of consistency, in my mind he’s a guy who’s really helping his team and whose winning.”

Mike Rice: “I think it’s completely wide open. You didn’t mention anybody who’s in first place in the Big East. Ashton (Gibbs) or Bradley (Wannamaker). It’s amazing what Marshon is doing. Hansbrough continues to will his team, Kemba is scoring, Hardy has his team playing the best basketball in the Big East. I’m going to wait another week and a half to see how it ends up. I haven’t looked at numbers yet. It’s going to be an interesting decision, there are so many deserving individuals.”

Mick Cronin: “How about Ashton Gibbs? You have to look at the team in first place and look at their best player. I know Brad Wanamaker has had a heck of a year but I believe Ashton Gibbs is the best player on Pittsburgh’s team. If you look at scoring you could go with Marshon Brooks or Kemba Walker. If you slate it toward production and winning in conference play you have to go toward Ben Hansbrough and Ashton Gibbs.”

OTHER NOTABLE QUOTES

“You used to maybe get an easy game in the Big East Tournament. There’s just none anymore. The depth of the league is just incredible. Whoever you get is going to be difficult. The ninth or tenth team is going to be an NCAA Tournament team. That team has the potential to play five games in New York, which is kind of ridiculous. This is the most good teams we’ve ever had. We’ve always had six or seven good teams but this is the first time we’ve had 11 teams that deserve to be NCAA teams. The league is just incredibly balanced this year. You’re probably going to have to play three ranked teams to win the tournament.” —Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim

“We try not to have tired guys. I’ve played our bench all year and at times I’ve been questioned for that, even when we were undefeated. Why isn’t this guy playing, why isn’t that guy playing? It’s our philosophy to play our bench so we can maintain our defensive intensity at all times. Our kids really bought into that and it shows.” —Cincinnati’s Mick Cronin, whose club leads the league in scoring defense.

“You can see that the players and Steve (Lavin) took some time to get to know each other. Early in the season they were a little disjointed. You could make a strong argument that at this point they’re as together as a unit as anyone in the country. It’s a combination of Steve’s patience with those guys—he’s really good with handling people—and those seniors. You’ve got to give them credit for accepting a good coach and buying in.” —Villanova’s Jay Wright on St. John’s.

“We tried a little bit of everything and did not have any answers (for Marshon Brooks). One answer I’ll take is a road win and get out of there.” —Notre Dame’s Mike Brey, whose team survived a 52-point onslaught from Providence’s Brooks.